


i've been waiting for so long

by judypoovey



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22161106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/judypoovey/pseuds/judypoovey
Summary: Han and Chewie go to Jakku looking for the Falcon, and they find an eight year old girl instead. Chewbacca does the only sensible thing and adopts her.
Relationships: Chewbacca & Rey, Leia Organa & Rey
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	i've been waiting for so long

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hipgrab (merrymegtargaryen)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/merrymegtargaryen/gifts).



> a series of short vignettes from the life of Rey as Chewbacca's force sensitive adopted daughter. I wanted to write a longer fic, but I don't have the emotional energy to rewatch all the sequel trilogy. I just wanted to write something short (with the promise of a little more) for my girl Meg's birthday. I might continue it to adapt the movies, or just fill in more fun Kid!Rey and Chewie adventures. But really, I just wanted to say "Rey Palpatine whom? we only know Rey Chewbacca here."

It took the gray haired smuggler near an hour to convince her to leave Jakku.

"My family is coming back for me," she said, crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest, puffing it out so he knew how strong she was. She was a good scavenger, and she could wait however long it took for them to come back. 

The Wookie sighed, looking at his friend and saying something, handing Rey another bowl of stew.    


"How long have you been here?" he asked.

"468 days." 

"They're not coming back."

"I know my family is coming for me, I can  _ feel  _ it." When they got up to leave, though, she felt something pulling her towards their retreating backs. Some unnameable force told her that this was her path.

"Mr. Smuggler! Wait!" she called, and the smuggler's shoulders relaxed as he slowed to let her catch up to him, grabbing the Wookie's outstretched hand. The ship they walked towards was one that Unkar Plutt had kept in his junkyard for a long time, ever since she'd been there. "This garbage is your ship?"

"It's not garbage," he said hotly. 

"What's your name?" she asked, following them up the ladder. 

"Han Solo, and this is Chewbacca."

"I've heard stories about you," she said. "I'm Rey." 

"I've never heard any stories about you. What happened to all that nonsense about your family coming back for you?" he asked.

As she settled into the seat and Chewbacca worried over her safety belt, she grinned at him. "My family did come for me." 

\--

That night, she couldn't sleep. The bed was so comfortable that she was afraid of waking up in the sand-filled hole in Jakku again. If she stayed awake, the dream wouldn't end, right? But her eyes felt heavy, even as her mind raced.

She got out of bed and walked out into the Falcon.

"Mr. Chewbacca?" she called softly. From other room, she heard an answering grunt.

Rey opened the door, lingering in the doorway, unsure of what to do. "I can't sleep," she said. 

Chewbacca sighed and patted the spot next to him in bed, holding out an arm. She climbed up and found a cozy spot, using her new protector as a pillow.

"Thank you for finding me, I'm glad you're my family now," she said, and she was asleep in minutes. 

\--

"She said she felt some kind of invisible force pull her towards us," she heard him tell his wife, who sipped her steaming drink with a thoughtful look.

Rey leaned in to listen a little harder. She had been with them for a week, now, Chewie looking after her. She'd escaped him for a few minutes, finding Han and Leia in conversation, and not wanting to interrupt, until she realized they were talking about her, and now she simply wanted to listen. 

"You think you stumbled upon a new Jedi in that junkyard?" 

"Maybe the Force willed it," he said. "I don't know how any of this shit works." 

Rey could contain her gasp. Was she a  _ Jedi _ ? Like in the stories she remembered, told by people she didn't? She had definitely been told about Jedi before. Even Unkar Plutt had told her things like that. 

Leia came to the door and smiled at her. "Rey, where did you leave Chewie? You know he needs you, you can't just abandon him like that."

"Am I a Jedi, Your Highness?" she asked. "Are you? Will you teach me? Will Luke Skywalker? Am I --" 

"All in good time, Little One, let's go," she said, taking Rey by the hand and taking her off to find Chewie. 

\--

"Come on, Chewie, we're gonna be late! Today's the day!" Rey shouted, shaking her guardian awake. It didn't matter that he'd only been asleep a few hours, up late playing games with Han.

Today was the day General Leia had promised to teach Rey about the Force. they had put her off for a long time, almost since the day that Chewie had taken her in a year ago, but they couldn't deny that she was Force sensitive and once she knew enough, Luke would teach her how to be a Jedi, like he watch teaching Ben. 

_ If _ she could get Chewie out the door. She pulled and pulled but he was so heavy that it didn't do anything. He grumbled in protest as he finally swung his legs off the bed and stretched, yawning.

"What's today?" he asked. It hadn't taken her long to understand Wookie, though she still wasn't much good for speaking it.

"YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS!" she yelled, excitement overloading her. "Leia says my lessons start  _ TODAY _ ! I can't be LATE!"

"You won't be late," he said, shaking his head and looking at the clock. "Get your shoes on."

In her passion, she'd entirely forgotten her shoes, which she bolted off to find.

Leia was waiting down the hall, smiling warmly as Rey wrapped her arms around her waist. "I'm so excited General Leia!! Or is it Master Leia now?"

"Just Leia is fine," she said with an affectionate pat to Rey's head. "Has Chewie been braiding your hair again?" she asked, appraising the messy twists.

"I did it myself!"

"Well it looks fantastic. Are you coming in Chewie?" 

"No dads allowed, Leia, only Jedi!" Rey whined, as Chewie made a noise of agreement.

Leia laughed. "Then let's start our lessons," she said.

\--

She read every book about being a Jedi that Leia had. She could feel the Force in her blood, the more she understood it. 

And yet, she was no closer to being a Jedi than she was being a Tauntaun. 

Weeks and months dragged into years. Rey learned to fly, to fight with staff and blaster, and to fix things.

How she  _ loved  _ fixing things.

Underneath the Falcon, covered in engine grease, she handed Chewie another wrench. "Keep up, old man!" she joked. They were keeping it light, though the reason for the repairs was anything but. There were rumors swirling about the galaxy of a rising First Order. The Empire Reborn. Things had been peaceful, and then they had struck. Now the grabbing hands of injustice were threatening to strangle them.

They needed to resist. They needed to be ready. 

So Han wanted the Falcon repaired. 

Just in case.

Also, they thought she didn't hear them when they talked, so she knew he was also expecting an unpleasant visit with Kanjiklub, and wanted to be able to escape quickly. But she'd pretend they were just preparing, you know, for the Resistance. 

Coming out from under the Falcon, wiping her greasy arm across her greasy forehead, she saw Han talking to his son, Ben. Now that she was twelve, Rey had started to notice people in a way that Leia called "grown-up". Ben was a lot older than her, so she didn't really think about it like that, but she liked his fluffy hair and he was usually nice to her, even though he was almost a Jedi and she was just a grease-rat. 

He acknowledged her with a nod, and she waved, wrench still in hand, and he slouched off with Han. 

He got to train with Luke, so he was mostly the source of all-consuming jealousy. She knew all the boring stuff like history and she had once made something move with her mind, but they still said they wanted to make sure. Wait until you're older, they said. No matter how old she got, she always had to wait. 

"Keep up, old lady," Chewie called from under the Falcon. 

She went back to the loose converter.

\--

She was fourteen, and it was time to train with Luke. That was what Leia had said. That's what Chewie had said. It was time, now. 

Rey couldn't sleep for how excited she was. 

"Chewie, am I going to get a lightsaber? What color will it be? Do I get to pick?" she asked that night, in their shared room. She had her own sleeping quarters, but they shared everything else, like the other families in the resistance base.

They weren't supposed to call it that outloud. The First Order didn't need to know they knew about them, or something weird and complicated like that. She didn't get it. What she did get was that now was the time she was going to go see Luke Skywalker and become a Jedi.

She had only met Luke a few times in the six years she had stayed with Chewie. He was a nice man, but a little solitary, and very strange. Everyone in her new family was, though, so she didn't think too much of it. 

The morning of promise dawned on the base and she was already dressed under her blankets. She barrelled into the common area, expecting to see Luke waiting, and everyone ready to send her off on her training.

All she saw was Leia, Han, and Chewie. 

Leia was crying. 

She tried to pretend she wasn't when she saw Rey, but Rey felt her pain. She felt something she had only felt once before, when she'd been left on Jakku. She'd felt it for a hundred days before it faded, and here it was, sharp and fresh and raw.

"What happened?" she asked, her elation bursting into cold grief and fear.

"The First Order...they...they got Ben…" Leia said. 

"Ben's…?"

"Dead," Han supplied, in a choked voice. 

"Master Luke?"

"We don't know. I'm sorry Rey, I don't think he'll be training you," Leia said, forcing a regal sort of calm into her voice, crossing the room to take her into her arms. "I'm sorry." 

She held onto Leia, trying to ignore the streaming tears. It wasn't fair, any of it. 

She would find a way to become a Jedi on her own. She would find whoever had killed Ben Solo, and she would kill them for hurting her family like this.


End file.
